


Wading In

by tothineownelfbetrue



Series: Spun Sugar Sweet [2]
Category: Disenchantment (TV 2018)
Genre: Elfo's not so sure about this, F/M, Fluff, cuteness, luci doesn't like swimming, no beta we die like elves, post-Love's Slimy Embrace, royal candy, swimming lessons, wet but not so wild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23433415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tothineownelfbetrue/pseuds/tothineownelfbetrue
Summary: Elves aren't exactly good swimmers. Elfo's barely managed to get by, the last few times they had to get through the water.  Now that there's finally some downtime, Bean is going to teach him the basics of how to swim.Or: That weird fluff fic where the characters get wet and (maybe) wild... but not in a naughty way.
Relationships: Bean | Tiabeanie/Elfo (Disenchantment)
Series: Spun Sugar Sweet [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685695
Kudos: 11





	Wading In

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in the same continuity as Pour Some Sugar on Me.

-  
  
  


“I don’t think I can do this…” 

Elfo looked small, vulnerable, standing there on the shore while Bean waded deeper into the water. She turned her head, looking back at him and watching the way he twisted his hands in his shirt, biting at his lower lip. He hadn’t been nearly as worried about drowning the first time she’d persuaded him to try swimming.

_He had gone over a waterfall though.._ It was probably a justifiable reason to be wary, but even so…a

“Oh c’mon, Elfo!” She called to him. “You were okay jumping in that time we had to rescue Derek!” Sure, he’d been a sloppy swimmer but at least he’d been willing to try.

“That was a life and death situation!” Elfo blurted, while Bean swished her hand through the water experimentally. It was actually fairly warm, by the standards of Dreamland seawater. She wouldn’t have hesitated to swim in it herself, especially if she was drunk. She let the water carry more of her weight as she reached down, belatedly pulling off her boots and feeling the sand between her bare toes. She chucked the boots toward the shore where they landed at Elfo’s feet with a soggy thud. “Bean!” Elfo yelped out, cringing back as he was struck with the seawater coming off of her sodden footwear. “That’s disgusting!”

Bean couldn’t help the twitch of a smirk at the corner of her mouth. “You drink milk out of your shoe.” She still had no idea how the milk got in there and she wasn’t about to ask. She didn’t want to know.

She was also briefly reminded that she’d kissed him and it would have been off-putting except that it wasn’t even in her top-ten most disgusting things someone she’d kissed had done.

The water was up to her chest, enough that she’d have to paddle to keep her footing. There wasn’t a lot of current in the tidepools and it was still low tide. This would be the perfect opportunity and Elfo was squandering it. “Come on Elfo! Don’t make me drag you in here!”

“She will, you know.” Luci commented from the sidelines, ever helpful. He might not have been a cat, but he was staying as far away from the water as he possibly could while still being able to make snarky comments in hearing range. 

Elfo made a soft sound at that, an unhappy squeak, though he shuffled toward the water. “But… but what if I sink… or what if something gets me?” His feet almost touched the lapping water, finally, but he drew up short. His small chest was heaving, his gaze darting between Bean and the mostly clear water. He was probably thinking of Derek’s ex-pet and whether or not the two of them would be strangled to death at any moment. It was a useless thing to worry about anyway because they weren't any safer from a killer octopus in the castle than they were in the water.

“If you sink, I’ll save you.” She said, paddling closer in the shallow water. Their eyes met and she could see a real hint of fear. Whatever the reason for it, be his past experiences with swimming or the possibility that Slimy might show up, he was really, truly bothered. She softened a little. Luci would have persisted in mocking him, trying to goad him into jumping into the water. That wasn’t what she wanted. “You can trust me, Elfo.”

“Yeah.” He swallowed, bit his lip in deep thought for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, I know I can.” Elfo plopped down on his rear in the sand, moving to pull off his shoes. He set them aside carefully, though from the look of interest Luci was carefully trying not to direct at the clothing, they weren’t going to remain entirely sand-free while the princess and elf were swimming. Elfo hesitated again, reaching for the bottom of his shirt like he might pull it off, then shaking his head and wading into the water, almost fully dressed.

Bean chuckled a little at that. He was still so self-conscious at the thought of stripping down even that much… It wasn’t like he had a lot to worry about in her seeing him shirtless. Hell, she didn’t give a damn about wearing clothes all the time herself, it was a useless hang up as far as she was concerned. The only reason she’d bothered with swimwear was because she thought the elf might pass out if she invited him to go skinny-dipping with her.

She waded forward to meet him, waiting in water just past her waist as he began to flounder a little, his feet barely touching the bottom as he came up to her. She slid her hands under his arms, lifting him easily to her chest. “Come on.” She pressed her cheek against his hair as she eased further into the deeper end of the tide pool. When the water was up to her shoulders, she could feel him clinging at her arms. 

It was always weird to be around non-Dreamlanders. Even the most pathetic Dreamland resident knew how to swim. Given the proximity to the sea, it was a necessity. Apparently growing up in a hidden magical forest village was a different matter altogether…. Well, she could still teach him. He’d been willing to teach her how to actually bake something so this would just be a bit of returning the favour.

“Okay. We’re just going to start with something simple, okay?” She patted a hand against his back, reassuring him. “We’re just going to learn how to float.”

“Float.” Elfo repeated, looking at her. His gold eyes were wide, despite her steady hands still on him. “Y-yeah.” He swallowed and she couldn’t help but smile as he let out a few steadying breaths. She could almost read the train of thoughts that would have been going through his head at the moment. He was trying to convince himself that it was a good idea, that he could do it. She knew he didn’t lack faith in her, so he was just being insecure about his own abilities again.

Bean could understand that feeling, all too well.

“Now this isn’t too hard.” She began, though it was only now occurring to her that she’d never had to explain how to float before. She just _did it_ without a need to think about the hows and whys. She considered for a second. “We just kind of naturally float. The trick is to just go with it and not struggle.” She shifted, moving to turn him around in her grasp, a motion that made him squeak in dismay. “Just lay back, okay… I’ve got you. You just take a breath and let the water pick you up.”

His feet were paddling, dog-like, struggling to push against the water. It took a few seconds for him to begin to listen, his weight in her arms shifting. With him pressed against her like this, his back to her chest, she could feel the shudder of his breaths. He was too panicky to relax properly… and if he didn’t relax, he wouldn’t be able to float… Failing would just hurt his confidence further and get him stuck in his own head. It was a familiar sensation, she’d felt like that about several things she tried to do and it was a useless train of thought that would do nothing but hold back any progress.

She changed tactics without considering what she was going to do. She closed her eyes, letting one hand slide to rest against his chest. “Hey. Shh… Just close your eyes for a second. Listen to my breathing and try to match it, okay?” She kept her hand flat against his slim chest as she felt him pause, his motions hitching and then he was holding his breath, trying to find her rhythm. She kept herself steady and measured and then when he started up again, he was trying to draw air to match the motion of her body rising and falling.

There was something strange about this, but not unpleasant. When she felt him against her, the both of them surrounded by the slight warmth of the water, it was like they were on the same wavelength. He wasn’t struggling in her arms and for a moment the still heaviness of her body brought back unpleasant memories of another time he’d been in her arms. She let her fingers press a bit more firmly to his chest, feeling the soft thump of his heartbeat that reassured her that the past was far behind them now. 

Safe. They were safe.

“Bean…” Elfo murmured and she opened her eyes, looking down at him. As his body stilled, the water around them was doing its thing, lifting him from the cradle of her arms until only the back of his head was nestled against her chest. His eyes were still squeezed tightly shut so she wasn’t sure he even noticed yet. 

“It’s okay, Elfo.” She smiled. He looked ridiculous like this. Elves really weren’t made to swim gracefully through the water but that was fine. She wasn’t looking to make him into an expert swimmer. She just wanted him to be good enough at it that he wasn’t terrified by their trips to the beach. 

“I’m not sure this uh…” Elfo mumbled, his hands resting atop hers, loosely. “I like this, I mean… I just don’t know if it’s working.”

Her voice emerged in a soft laugh at that, amusement and delight. “I don’t know about that…” She paused on the words for a moment, grinning down at him. “Open your eyes.”

When he did, there was a moment of delay, his realization that her hands were only loosely braced against him instead of holding him securely to her chest. She kept them steady so he didn’t fully freak out and sink. “Easy…” she admonished him softly. “You’re doing great. Just don’t panic.” 

Easier said than done, but one benefit of their time together getting caught up in weird and crazy adventures was that they’d… well… been through lots of weird, crazy adventures… many of them more than a little life-threatening. Elfo was a lot better at not panicking immediately when confronted with some terrifying reality. So he stayed still where he was, held up by the water.

He swallowed. She could see the bob of his adam’s apple. His voice came out again, a bit higher than usual. Breathy. “I’m… I’m floating…” His cute squishy face broke into a smile that somehow made it even cuter and squisher. “I’m really floating!”

“You really are!” Bean’s smile spread ear to ear. “Great job!”

“Yeah!” Elfo’s voice was a bit louder, more confident but also more delighted. “You were right, Bean. It’s not as hard as I thought it would be.” He moved, trying to turn his head toward her, and immediately his butt started to dip in the water. His breath caught in surprise as she slid her hand beneath his rear to hold him up.

“Easy tiger. Don’t forget the trick is to stay still. You’re trying too hard.”

He swallowed hard, then forced himself to relax again. After a few seconds, he bobbed back to the surface, his butt no longer in contact with her hand. She was both amused and a little proud of how quickly he was taking to his lessons. She was a pretty good teacher!

Her own confidence had been a little shaky, but it was bolstered now. If she could teach Elfo to swim, she could teach him a lot of the other things she knew about navigating in the water. It was all about how to move. As long as she remained sober during their lessons, they’d be fine.

She waited for him to be ready to stop, not wanting to push him. He closed his eyes again at one point, just breathing and floating in a way that looked really relaxing. “I’m going to let you go for a second, okay? You’ve already learned how to do this really well. I just need you to keep it up.”

Elfo had figured out enough to not nod in reply but instead, he answered her out loud.

“O-okay. I think I can do it.”

“I know you can.” She said, without hesitation. Her arms eased from around him, releasing him gradually to the calm water. He didn’t start to sink, even though his breath caught for a moment as soon as her support was fully gone. She waited a few seconds, easing back a couple of steps. The water was lapping around her, at chest height. It didn’t get much deeper on her, not even if the tide pool floor was very much out of range of Elfo’s short legs. She didn’t need to float to keep herself from drowning.

But still, she drew a deep breath of her own, letting herself ease back in the water. She felt the lapping of it around her head, her pale hair swirling around her like a white cloud as her feet parted ways with the seafloor. 

Floating really was second nature to her, but she rarely got the opportunity to do it ever since her father and his advisors had started to find her too intractable and limited her capability to go out. With this new secret tunnel down to the beach, though, maybe she’d have to make this a regular thing. If cooking together could qualify as a date, why not more swimming lessons?

She turned her head, looking at Elfo still floating a short distance away. Without any actual current or waves, he was drifting idly. She moved an arm lazily in the water, pushing herself in his direction. Bean let herself float alongside him, smiling as she realized he still hadn’t opened his eyes.

As she came up beside him, she reached out her hand, letting it brush against Elfo’s. It caused him to tense for a second, but then he caught himself. His eyes opened a crack and he looked at her, his hand turning so he could twine their fingers. 

How long they were there like that, she couldn’t say. There was something hypnotic about the water lapping around them, but also something solid and reassuring in the feeling of their hands entwined. It made her think back to that first night they’d met… a warm campfire. A feeling of contentment that needed no booze.

Hope.

“Thanks.” She murmured aloud, not looking at him. Her breath was warm and wet above the water, eyes still closed. 

“For what…?” Bean didn’t need to see to know the confused look he had on his face. It was the slight wrinkling of his nose and the pursing of his lips for a few seconds. If his hands had been free and not assisting him in floating, or in holding Bean’s own hand, he would have been wringing them.

“Nothing.” She laughed softly, wonderingly. “Everything.” 

Two things could be true.

For once, Elfo didn’t ask her to clarify, just squeezing her hand for a moment and leaving it at that. She was grateful.

They probably could have spent a lot longer like this, with just the water and the sky and each others’ company, but they weren’t actually alone. The sound of tiny footsteps was muffled by the water in her ears, but not even that could drown out Luci’s voice. “You two look like a couple of weird otters.”

Right. 

Bean let out her breath at that. The moment was gone… for now. The intrusion of real life meant that a lot of the other things she’d managed to put out of her mind were now back in full force. Her little vacation from the realities of her life was over. As she changed her posture in the water, it was like gravity found her again, her feet angling toward the sandy bottom and finding purchase there. Her hand pulled away from Elfo’s and he held it for a second longer before finally, reluctantly, releasing her.

She eased over to him, her arms slipping beneath his upper body, lifting him and pulling him toward her again, now that she had the leverage. He turned at last, the brief, unconscious flailing of his limbs breaking his spread out posture and making him sink again. But he couldn’t sink far, not with her arms there to keep him safe and close.

He moved to settle his hands on her shoulders and under the water she could feel the slight kicking of his bare feet where they brushed against her legs. It wasn’t as frantic now as it had been when he’d first entered the water earlier. Just in general, he seemed a lot more at ease as they made their way to the edge of the tidepool. She could have set him down on the way, especially once the water was down past her waist, but she didn’t bother. 

As they arrived on shore, joining an impatient Luci, Bean flopped to the sand with Elfo still clutched against her, letting out a small yelp of surprise as the two of them landed with him settled atop her. He shuffled a little, looking down at her with a hint of colour to his cheeks, trying not to sputter. Even though they’d been together for over a month now, he was still tremendously awkward when it came to displays of physical affection. She’d barely gotten him used to casual hand-holding and kissing. This was probably a bit much.

Still, she didn’t care. She reached up her fingers to flick a wet strand of hair away from his eyes. “See. It’s not so bad, is it?”

“Uh…. swimming or…” he looked down at her again, face flushing as he realized that the wetness of their clothes was making Bean’s form a lot more obvious than her usual baggy attire. “The swimming was definitely uh… better… than before.”

She laughed, taking mercy on him and sitting up. The motion made him slide down to land in her lap. “You’re getting the hang of it.”

“No he’s not.” Luci said from beside them and they both turned to look, Bean with a wry smile because she could feel that Luci’s ire wasn’t genuine, and Elfo with a shocked jolt that meant he’d probably forgotten the demon was even there. Luci shrugged as he met Elfo’s eyes. “Just being honest. Don’t get used to it. Unless it’s humiliating, that is.”

While Elfo was pursing his lips in a pout, Bean took advantage of his distraction and slid a hand under his chin, tipping his face toward her so she could press a brief kiss against his mouth. Any of his frustration at Luci bled away at that and he relaxed in her arms as she pulled away. When his gaze went back to Luci, he was mostly composed. “I’ll get better at it. I’ve got the best teacher anyone could ask for.”

The demon grimaced. “Ugh. Sentiment. You’re going to gag me over here.” He turned away, padding across the sand. “So are we getting back to the castle now or are the two of you going to go back to making out on the sand like a couple of horny walruses?”

“Yeah,” Bean said, letting out a puff of air. Next time she was going to have to make sure that she and Elfo went out alone for a while. It would be better for both of them and for Luci too because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to resist tossing him into the ocean if he kept up his needling.

She entertained the mental image of Luci looking like a drowned rat for a few seconds before Elfo squirmed on her lap. She brushed her hand across his cheek before she released her grip on him, allowing him to clamber off of her. He dropped to the sand, butt-first, to pull on his shoes, letting out a whine as he realized that Luci had indeed packed them to the brim with wet sand while the two of them had been occupied. Luci chuckled as Elfo tipped the shoes and scraped the sand out as best he could before slipping his feet back into them.

Between his sand-covered butt and shoes and his general soddenness, Elfo looked ragged and he peered down at himself, realizing it at the same time as Bean. “I think I need a swimsuit…” He reached down to shake his shorts but had little success in getting himself any less sandy.

Bean smiled at that, easing to her feet as well. Her own swimsuit was in far better shape than his, but she did still have sand across her hips and rear. Of course, unlike him, she didn’t have a problem with it. “Next time let’s just go skinny-dipping.”

Elfo’s head jerked around to look at her, his eyes wide. He was trying to gauge if she was kidding or not. She only smiled down at him as she moved to undo her top and shake it out. He looked away with the biggest blush she’d ever seen on his green face, so he missed the part where she shucked out of her bottoms as well. She could have just rinsed them and put them back on, but what was the point?

Instead she headed for the passage just as she was. When she realized they weren’t following - mostly because Elfo was too busy trying not to stare at her - Bean tossed her wet swimsuit at her embarrassed boyfriend, then darted inside to the sound of his embarrassed squeak and Luci’s laughter.

-

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
